About the Society

Resources

Music Director

Charley Rappaport

Born in
Brooklyn, New York, Charley Rappaport
began playing in college concert halls and coffeehouses in the early '60s. Early on he perfected his own style of performance
of Gypsy music as leader of a number of groups - most recently The
Great American Gypsies with Joseph Kovach and Mistral, with Dean Shumaker. He is also music director of The
Gordon Neidinger Trio and plays guitar in that group. Charley has appeared as a soloist in New
York's Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and Town Hall, in Washington's Kennedy
Center and in many other important venues in North America and Europe. He has 5 recordings to his credit, the latest
being Before I Had a Red Tomato on Caravan Recordings.

In 1978 he co-founded
The
Balalaika and Domra Association of America, an international
organization to preserve and proliferate Russian folk music and Russian folk instruments.In 1975 he founded the Houston
Balalaika Society, in 1981 he founded the Atlanta Balalaika Society
and in 1994 he co-founded the AtlantaMandolin Society, all still thriving orchestras.

In 2003 he was
the subject of the cover story of Mandolin Magazine, a national
publication.In 2004 he was named
a Master
Folk Artist by the Pennsylvania Council forthe Arts, and awarded a grant in
conjunction with their Master/Apprentice program.In October of 2006 he assumed the posts of Executive and
Music Director of the Pittsburgh Mandolin Society and he is
conductor of the Pittsburgh MandolinOrchestra.
He has been teaching fretted
instruments privately both in Pittsburgh and in Albion, PA since 2003.